Bird flu strikes SOMA
When you're an actor, your body is your tool. It's part of your job to make sure you stay healthy and able to do what you're paid to do, and that's what makes it so hard to get sick. Every performer deals with sickness differently, but no matter who you are it's hard to get over. When I was sick and had to go out of the show I knew it was for the best, but I sure didn't like it. Our Maria has gone out several times, but she always does what she needs to do to perform as much as possible. Our Captain on the other hand, has a perfect record. Or did, until tonight.
Jim (Capt. von Trapp) used to be in the army. He's about as far from your typical theatre guy as you could possibly get. First of all, he's straight (and this is reeeeally rare) and engaged. He's pretty quiet offstage, although he does have a temper. He's also very tall, works out all the time, and loves sports. As part of his miliary background though, Jim is tough. More than anything else he's disciplined and controlling.
Every night at the end of our curtain call, Jim leads the full cast bow. He's very tall and stands in the middle of the stage, so everyone is supposed to watch him to know when to bow together. However, after months of doing this, the bow has a musical cue, and we all bow on the same music together. A few nights ago, Jim decided that he was going to teach the children a lesson about paying attention, and changed up the bows. He neglected to realize that the rest of the cast was going to continue the correct bows that we've always done, and the end result would look unprofessional and chaotic. Even so, when the curtain was down he proceeded to yell at the kids for not listenening (even though it was his own fault he was on this power trip). This is a pretty good example of how he likes to be in charge, and takes pride in his strength.
Because of some of these traits, Jim has never gone out of a show. He's done this show countless times (since he was also in the US non-equity tour in 2003) and has a perfect record. He went on in Tokyo hacking in Maria's face, and in Seoul with a 103-degree temperature. We thought he would never go out... until tonight he proved us wrong.
When tonight's show started, Jim seemed fine. Apparently he had told his finacee Chrissy that he felt a bit strange, but it wasn't obvious at first. However, about five minutes into his first scene, he was in the middle of a line when he suddenly stopped speaking. He was quiet for a few seconds, and then picked back up, but there was a change in him. He seemed a bit distant, and started to limp a bit. To some watching backstage, the change wasn't obvious, and even those who noticed it just thought he had maybe re-injured his bad knee. It wasn't until he came offstage a few minutes later and told someone that he barely remembered what scene he had just complete that we started to worry. As the first act went on, things got worse. He skipped several lines, and was constantly leaning on any thing he could get his hands on... the wall, the banister, and Maria. He was sweating and out of it by the time he was pulled out of the show at the end of the first act. Although he didn't want to leave, it was clear something was wrong. He was immediately rushed to the hospital.
Of course the first bit of drama was that his understudy Todd was going on for the first time. This is always a bittersweet thing, since we were so excited for Todd, but worried about Jim. Luckily, Todd did a great job, and Jim went to get checked out. Fortunately for Jim we happened to have one of the kid's dads visiting, and he happens to be an infectious disease specialist from the states. So hopefully the doctor and the hospital will have things figured out soon. Unluckily, there are a bunch of actors sitting around guessing what's wrong and trying to self-interpret the blood tests, which only makes for more drama. I don't know if it's actors or people in general, but we certainly have a flare for exaggeration and the dramatic. Suddenly in our minds Jim has bird flu and it's become airborne. Hopefully this isn't the case, and he's fine, but until then we can only keep our fingers crossed.
Jim (Capt. von Trapp) used to be in the army. He's about as far from your typical theatre guy as you could possibly get. First of all, he's straight (and this is reeeeally rare) and engaged. He's pretty quiet offstage, although he does have a temper. He's also very tall, works out all the time, and loves sports. As part of his miliary background though, Jim is tough. More than anything else he's disciplined and controlling.
Every night at the end of our curtain call, Jim leads the full cast bow. He's very tall and stands in the middle of the stage, so everyone is supposed to watch him to know when to bow together. However, after months of doing this, the bow has a musical cue, and we all bow on the same music together. A few nights ago, Jim decided that he was going to teach the children a lesson about paying attention, and changed up the bows. He neglected to realize that the rest of the cast was going to continue the correct bows that we've always done, and the end result would look unprofessional and chaotic. Even so, when the curtain was down he proceeded to yell at the kids for not listenening (even though it was his own fault he was on this power trip). This is a pretty good example of how he likes to be in charge, and takes pride in his strength.
Because of some of these traits, Jim has never gone out of a show. He's done this show countless times (since he was also in the US non-equity tour in 2003) and has a perfect record. He went on in Tokyo hacking in Maria's face, and in Seoul with a 103-degree temperature. We thought he would never go out... until tonight he proved us wrong.
When tonight's show started, Jim seemed fine. Apparently he had told his finacee Chrissy that he felt a bit strange, but it wasn't obvious at first. However, about five minutes into his first scene, he was in the middle of a line when he suddenly stopped speaking. He was quiet for a few seconds, and then picked back up, but there was a change in him. He seemed a bit distant, and started to limp a bit. To some watching backstage, the change wasn't obvious, and even those who noticed it just thought he had maybe re-injured his bad knee. It wasn't until he came offstage a few minutes later and told someone that he barely remembered what scene he had just complete that we started to worry. As the first act went on, things got worse. He skipped several lines, and was constantly leaning on any thing he could get his hands on... the wall, the banister, and Maria. He was sweating and out of it by the time he was pulled out of the show at the end of the first act. Although he didn't want to leave, it was clear something was wrong. He was immediately rushed to the hospital.
Of course the first bit of drama was that his understudy Todd was going on for the first time. This is always a bittersweet thing, since we were so excited for Todd, but worried about Jim. Luckily, Todd did a great job, and Jim went to get checked out. Fortunately for Jim we happened to have one of the kid's dads visiting, and he happens to be an infectious disease specialist from the states. So hopefully the doctor and the hospital will have things figured out soon. Unluckily, there are a bunch of actors sitting around guessing what's wrong and trying to self-interpret the blood tests, which only makes for more drama. I don't know if it's actors or people in general, but we certainly have a flare for exaggeration and the dramatic. Suddenly in our minds Jim has bird flu and it's become airborne. Hopefully this isn't the case, and he's fine, but until then we can only keep our fingers crossed.
posted by Beth at 4:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home